Local diet update - August 18, 2008

Happy Monday!

Last week was a GREAT week. Not only was the eatin' good at the SGF household, but it also marked my last days of paid employment. I'm officially retired (for now, anyway)!

So let's see. Needing a little encouragement to get through the week, Tuesday I decided to try a new bread recipe. Yeah. Looks good, doesn't it? This was the first time I've tried challah (here's the recipe from Baking Bites blog). I've always loved the taste and, of course, braided breads are gorgeous. I had to change the recipe a bit. I added quite a bit more flour than the recipe called for until I got a good consistency in the dough and it had a 30 minute bake time that was WAY too long (so the bread was slightly overdone), but I'll correct for the bake time in the next loaf. And there WILL be a next loaf. This is a delicious bread! Some days I would just tear off a piece to eat with a bowl of soup, other days, I'd make a thin slice for toast, and on Sunday, we used it to make french toast (local eggs, local milk, and homemade challah). French toast. Mmmmm...

On Thursday (in preparation for my last day at work Friday), I whipped up a batch of High Tea Lemon Cookies (recipe here) to give to my boss as a sorry-I'm-retiring-but-here-are-some-cookies gift. These cookies mark the first time I grated lemons for zest. I was pretty proud of myself! I packaged the cookies using the top of a plastic salad container from one of my favorite restaurants and a ribbon from last Christmas (no, I don't throw anything away if I can help it). I thought it turned out really nice.

Anyway, Friday was not only my last morning at work (yeah!), but after I returned home, I made a large casserole dish worth of homemade baked mac-n-cheese (milk and cheese were local) for Dave's dinners over the next few days. Friday also included a trip to pick up fresh milk from the dairy. We're starting to get low on cheese so I ordered a pound of gouda for next week's pickup.

Saturday, being farmers market day, is the most exciting day of the week for me. Time to reload goodies into the fridge as well as to catch up with friends. Dave joined me Saturday morning as I made my rounds to each of the vendors. As usual, I ended up with more than I can eat (but it looks so good...), but what I can't eat this week will spill over into next week. Nothing gets wasted in this house!

As you can see, I picked up a nice big bag of fresh green beans, 3 zucchini, 2 bags of spinach, an eggplant, a yellow onion, a bag of red potatoes, 2 dozen eggs, and 2 jars of Dr. Pepper jelly (hubby loves DP and we just had to get some!). The peaches (local, from Mexia, TX) came from a quick post farmers market trip to Farm Patch. On top of the locals I already have at home (milk, cheese, more spinach, purple onions, mushrooms, a scalloped squash, and all the tomatoes and soup I've canned), we'll be eating well this week. 

The green beans were steamed on Saturday to go with Dave's mac-n-cheese; the potatoes and onion will make a new batch of potato salad; the spinach will turn into more of that spinach and rice I made a few weeks ago; and the zucchini and eggplant will be roasted in the oven and made into roasted veggie sammies (homemade yogurt rolls, toasted gouda cheese, topped with lots of thick roasted veggies slices). Mmmm. Oh, and lest I forget, I also whipped up two loaves of pumpkin bread and a batch of yogurt. Now that I think about it, it was a busy Saturday.

More exciting than anything, now that I'm no longer working, I have more time to bake new breads, to cook more meals, to explore new recipes, to can more goodies, and to grow more of our own food. I may no longer be drawing a check from formal employment, but I have a feeling that the adventures to come will pay in health and happiness in ways a paycheck never could.

Happy (and mindful) eating!

P.S. If you're interested in seeing what other farmers markets are like around the country, check out The Farmers Market Report at the To Every Meal There is a Season blog.